bought the car from my brother, he bought it new. it has just shy of 170,000 miles on it .

how do i disable the "feature" that turns on the dome lights when i turn off the key and keeps the light on for a while after i get out of the car? i just want the damn light to come on when i open the door and go off when i shut the door like the simple basic car that it's supposed to be.

it's on it's third turn signal/headlight/cruise control switch. the low beams don't currently work, but highs, running lights, and cluster lights do. DRL's work fine. what is the underlying cause for these cars eating those switches, and how the hell are the headlights wired? a test light shows positive power at all 3 terminals on the back of the bulbs.. is there a low beam relay hidden in the car somewhere?
anyone have a good wiring diagram?

how do i disable the DRL's and not have that stupid light in the cluster? i don't think i need to kill light bulbs by running them at low voltage during the day just so people know that there is a red Cavalier coming the opposite direction..

why is the wrench in the cluster lit up? is that related to the headlights?

what's the relay that's taped to the main harness under the dash kind of by the steering column? out of curiosity, i pulled it out and everything still works.. the part number on it is 12065125

on the bright side- the check engine light went out this week and it started running a little better. my cheap scanner said it had high 02 levels or some other such nonsense, but that fixed itself so i'm not worrying about that right now.

congrats...I too have an 04 Cavy, 2dr blue, 5spd, 170k miles too...

Do a proper search on this forum, ecotechforum.com, clubcav.com. You'll find a wealth of information between all 3, I think eco is best for our engines, jbod is best for just general knowledge...but I browse both equally..

the DRL light is an easy fix, Im about to do that one myself in about 30minutes once my HID kit is all wired up. Its VERY easy (this website): http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=7&i=326113&t=326113

The 'service' wrench on mine is because my bulbs are unplugged, and it blinks/flashes lke 5 times (and clicks) then that came on. But normally I dont have it. Something isnt plugged in or is burnt out, may want to have an auto shop do a free diagnostic code check. Although the CEL (check engine light, the red one) is actually for codes the ECU picks up (like a bad O2 or something).

Im not sure about that relay without a pic, it just shows a 'gm relay' online when i do a quick search, but for a few dollars, im sure its necessary.

the first few questions are also found here, id have to look them up. Just use the search feature, advanced search, and use 'search all forums' and 'exclude posts' is what i do, works great normally.

Welcome to jbody and good luck on keeping your car basic, youll be modding before you know it lol...




04 Cav. 2dr. 5spd. My DD. 'Nuff said.

the only "mods" i'm gonna do to this are the things that simplify it and add fuel economy. i have no illusions or desires about making it fast or blinging it all up.. i'll leave that to the kids that are 20 years younger than me that are just getting their feet wet in the world of cars. when i need speed, i'll jump in my 84 T Type and go for a spin.. when i want to make the 50 mile round trip drive to work and back on a gallon and a half of gas, then i'll jump in the cavvy.

the dome light is just annoying- and one more module to fail down the road and kill the battery.
DRL's do nothing but wear out light bulbs- and it's another thing to go wrong.
i'm ready to just wire the head lights with an old school pull switch in the dash with a proper floor mounted dimmer switch- i think i'll do that before i give Dorman $65 for a switch that they've had 15 years to properly redesign so they don't go bad on a yearly basis.
the ABS needs work, too.. if it needs more than a new harnes soldered in, i'm gonna scavenge a non ABS setup off something older and figure out how to get rid of the lights in the dash. ABS is just nanny state crap for people that can't be bothered to actually properly drive their cars/